Talking With Legendary Director William Friedkin
William Friedkin, legendary director of The French Connection (1971), which won him the Best Director Oscar, and The Exorcist (1973), one of the greatest horror films of all time, recently published his memoirs, The Friedkin Connection, a candid look at his early life and his long movie career.
We caught up with him as he was touring the country to promote his book, as well has host several screenings of his late 70’s masterpiece,...
Talking to Jane Lynch About her new Film Afternoon Delight
Since premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, writer-director Jill Soloway’s provocative comedy about sex, marriage and finding oneself, Afternoon Delight, has garnered praise (Soloway won best director at this year's Sundance Film Festival) — with many singling out Jane Lynch’s performance as one of the fest’s best. Afternoon Delight follows Rachel (Kathryn Hahn), a hip, Silver Lake, California, mom with a lackluster sex life, who takes in a homeless stripper (Juno Temple) to spice things up...
Creativity in Hollywood: Film Visionaries On Creative Process And Inspiration
Unlike most films and television shows, inspiration is not available on-demand. In the highly creative realm of movie-making, a good idea can catapult careers, spark motion picture franchises, and make cinematic history.
Inventing the next film can mean laying the groundwork for brilliant movies and television, from Inception, Taxi Driver, The Master, or Edward Scissorhands.
Of course, caveats abound. Coming up with brilliant ideas isn’t exactly a science and oftentimes,...
The World’s End: What’s Behind our Apocalypse Obsession?
Edgar Wright’s The World’s End (premiering August 23) is not the first, second, third or fourth film to come out this year about an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic world. A cursory glance of 2013's film slate would suggest we are currently suffering from a collective panic attack about our prospects on the planet. This is the End, World War Z, Pacific Rim,...
Your Big Break: Hollywood Studio Programs for Emerging Writers
How hard is it to make it as a screenwriter in Hollywood? Watch the Coen brothers Barton Fink or Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard or last year’s Seven Psychopaths for a clue. All three films focus on a struggling screenwriter. All three, while wildly different and wonderfully perverse (in their own specific ways) get at the beating black heart of the unknown screenwriter’s soul—that your soul is for sale, so long as you can get your script made...
George Mastras on Writing & Directing One of Breaking Bad’s Best Episodes
George Mastras has been a criminal investigator for the public defender’s office in Washington D.C., a counselor at a juvenile correctional facility during the crack epidemic of the 1990s, a litigator in New York, and a defense attorney in Los Angeles. Then he quit, bought a one-way ticket to China and backpacked around the world for two years. He wrote a novel while he was in Indonesia that was published by Scribner in early 2009 to very good reviews...
Writer/Director/Producer/Star Lake Bell on In a World…
In the dramedy 'In a World…', out August 9, writer/director/producer/star Lake Bell visits the voiceover industry as a newbie competing for the same gig as her industry-veteran father. Here, Bell, who has delivered memorable acting turns in such movies as No Strings Attached and It’s Complicated, talks about writing the script for her feature-film directorial debut, why she loves trailers, and what “voice” annoys her most.
The Credits: What insight can you offer about voices and accents?...
HBO’s Casting By Shines a Light on Casting Legend Marion Dougherty
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced the creation of a new casting director’s branch, finally elevating the women and men who provide films with that somewhat vital ingredient—the cast—to full membership. This comes after years of lobbying on the part of filmmakers and actors themselves to give casting directors their due.
The Academy's decision means that casting directors will get three seats on the board of governors, along with the 16 other branches which include just about every facet of the filmmaking process...
An Evening With Filmmaking Icon Norman Jewison
Lauded filmmaker Norman Jewison may be as entertaining a storyteller in person as he is through film. Rocking New Balance sneakers, sunglasses and youthful exuberance at a July 22 event at the MPAA in Washington, D.C., the 87-year-old filmmaker regaled a delighted audience with tales from his more than four decades of historic success in the industry.
Jewison boasts a repertoire of films that have amassed a remarkable total of 46 Oscar nominations and 12 Oscar Awards...
Disasters in Space: Hollywood’s History of Co-Opting NASA’s Real Fears
In a way, outer space is like a vast movie screen–we project our hopes, our dreams, and our worst fears onto it. A lesser species might stare into the glittering stars and see randomness—we have been looking up at the night sky for millennia and have seen a near endless array of characters; lions, bulls, twins, a sea monster, a chained princess, a centaur–gods.
It’s no wonder, then, that space has been the setting for some of Hollywood’s most iconic movies—Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey,...
The Rise of Shailene Woodley:The Spectacular Now Star Shines Bright
There are two actresses you want in your movies right now: Jennifer Lawrence, and Shailene Woodley.
While the former heads off once again to the Hunger Games, (Catching Fire premiers November 22) and rejoins her Silver Linings Playbook co-star Bradley Cooper in Serena (premieres October 31), the latter is poised to potentially follow in her footsteps.
Woodley stars in three upcoming films—each based on a young adult (YA) novel—and each offering her a very different character to inhabit...
From Gene Kelly to The Smurfs 2: A Brief History of Live Action & Animation
The Smurfs 2 , out today, is the latest in a long (very long) line of live action/animation films.
Sony Picture’s 3D family comedy centers on the evil wizard Gargamel’s (played in live action by Hank Azaria) most grotesque transformation yet—he’s become a celebrity (we jest). The newly famous Gargamel creates a host of Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties (including Christina Ricci, below, as Vexy), in order to harness that magical Smurf essence he’s coveted forever...
Narrative Darwinsim: House of Cards Showrunner Beau Willimon Gets Creative
Since shooting on House of Cards began just one year ago this month, Netflix’s debut series has been the focus of tremendous buzz and speculation—due in large part to its innovative distribution model, stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, and executive producer and sometimes director David Fincher. But from the very beginning, it’s been 35 year-old showrunner Beau Willimon who has been in charge of completely overhauling the 1990 British miniseries of the same name and turning it into one of television’s most compelling and often prescient pieces of programming...
Workaholic Woody Allen: Five Decades & Counting of Unparalleled Production
In 1966, China became the first nation to synthesize Insulin, Walt Disney died, the first Star Trek episode “The Man Trap” aired, England won the World Cup (they haven’t won one since), and a young director by the name of Woody Allen released his first feature film, What’s Up Tiger Lily?
In the 47-years that have followed, Allen has essentially made a movie a year. He came along right when a slew of young directors were on the make—Steven Spielberg,...
Editor Alisa Lepselter Talks Blue Jasmine, Her 15th Woody Allen Collab
After working as an Assistant Editor on movies for the likes of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Nora Ephron, and getting her break cutting Nicole Holofcener's first feature Walking and Talking (1996), Editor Alisa Lepselter, A.C.E. got the job of a lifetime—she cut Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown (1999). Fifteen years later she is on her fifteenth collaboration with Allen for his newest movie, Blue Jasmine, which opens on Friday...
Comic-Con 2013: Meet Alan Villanueva, Costume Illustrator of Ender’s Game
Alan Villanueva is a costume illustrator who appeared on the Costume Designers Guild panel to talk about the changing world of costume in an era of HD and 3D. His first feature film was Oz the Great and Powerful, where he worked on Michelle Williams’ dress for the early black-and-white scenes, knowing that what she was wearing would have to translate into the color costumes she would wear in Oz. He loved the “marriage of fantasy and period”...
Comic-Con 2013: In Praise of the Character Actor
In recent years there has been a rise in appreciation of those most special of actors–the character actors. You know them precisely by never really knowing them–you recognize their face, you appreciate their work, but you can rarely recall their name (if you ever knew it in the first place).
Irwin Keyes, character actor extraordinaire, is happy to explain the difference between a supporting actor and a character actor. “It’s not just supporting the lead,” he says. “It’s a different kind of part. ...
Comic-Con 2013: A Superhero’s Secret Weapon? Music
Iron Man’s got the Mark 42 armored suit and Wolverine has the claws, but both of these bad boys have something else to help them wow fans time and time again—great music.
Comic-Con started off, if not with a bang, with something better — a grand, sweeping, orchestral superhero movie score. The men who put music behind Marvel characters like Iron Man, Kick-Ass, Wolverine, and The Avengers spoke to the fans about the challenges of finding a musical equivalent to the grand sweep of characters and stunts that are themselves bigger than life...
Talking With DP Jonathan Ingalls About Killer Whale Documentary Blackfish
For the past 10 years, producer, director, and cinematographer Jonathan Ingalls has been making compelling documentary television (MTV’s I Used to be Fat, A&E’s The First 48 and films such as City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story.) This week, perhaps his most controversial project, Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles, after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January and making a giant splash...
From Turbo to Monsters University, Actors Relive Juicy Past Roles via Animation
DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo, which opens today, is a veritable who’s who of serious actors lending their voices to a selection of mollusks and another animated characters. Paul Giamatti, Luis Guzmán, Michelle Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins and Samuel L. Jackson are a few of the no joke actors involved in this film about a snail named Theo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of being as fast as his favorite IndyCar driver, Guy Gagné.
It’s not news that Academy Award winning and nominated actors have routinely lent their voices to animated movies. It's also not news that many animated features have characters that contain subtlety,...
